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2020 NASCAR Cup Series
The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series will be the 72nd season for NASCAR professional stock car racing in the United States and the 49th season for the modern era Cup Series. The season will begin at Daytona International Speedway with the Advance Auto Parts Clash, the Gander RV Duel qualifying races, and the 62nd running of the Daytona 500. The regular season will end with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona on August 29. The NASCAR playoffs will end with the race at ISM Raceway on November 8. This is slated to be the first season under NASCAR's new tiered sponsorship model after rejecting Monster Energy's offer to extend its title sponsorship. This will also be the final year for the Gen-6 car, as the Gen-7 car is slated for a 2021 debut. Teams and drivers Full-time teams Notes Changes Teams * On September 24, 2019, in a Frontstretch article, Rick Ware Racing owner Rick Ware was interviewed and said that he would like to run three cars full time in 2020. It would most likely be the No. 53 team that would run full time (to continue adding cars in numerical order). The No. 53 as well as their No. 54, a fourth car for the team, both ran part time schedules in 2019. Drivers * On June 7, 2019, it was reported that Kurt Busch is looking to extend his one-year contract with Chip Ganassi Racing. On August 16, Busch stated that he does not have any solid plans yet for 2020. On August 30, it was reported that Busch and sponsor Monster Energy are getting closer to renewing their contract with CGR. * On June 7, 2019, Daniel Suárez was reportedly working on extending his one-year contract with Stewart-Haas Racing. On October 5, Suárez stated that he and Stewart-Haas are getting close to an agreement. *On June 10, 2019, Richard Childress Racing was reportedly working on getting Tyler Reddick a full-time Cup Series ride in 2020, either with the team or its alliances. Later, on July 30, team owner Richard Childress said that Reddick would not be in the Xfinity Series next year as long as he stays with his team, and that the Cup Series was the only option. On September 4, it was reported that RCR is unclear if they can afford a third team for Reddick, and that Reddick has been talking to other teams such as Roush Fenway Racing. On October 2, RCR officially announced Reddick as the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet for the 2020 season. *On June 28, 2019, Christopher Bell signed a contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing, but had stated he was unsure if he will stay in the Xfinity Series or advance to the Cup Series. On August 15, when asked about the rumors of him replacing Matt DiBenedetto in the Leavine Family Racing No. 95 Toyota in 2020, Bell said that no deals had been signed yet. On September 24, 2019, LFR officially announced Bell as the driver of the No. 95 in 2020. * On July 20, 2019, Tommy Joe Martins confirmed he moved to MBM Motorsports with plans to run numerous Xfinity Series races in 2019 and 2020, and potentially a Cup race(s) in the near future. *On July 28, 2019, Joe Gibbs hinted at renewing Erik Jones' contract with Joe Gibbs Racing. On August 15, Jones confirmed that he is close to getting a deal done to extend his deal with JGR for the 2020 season. On September 2, when asked about Jones' contract situation, Gibbs responded, "He has a deal with us." On September 6, 2019, Jones' contract extension was finally officially announced, which runs for the one additional season of 2020. *On August 13, 2019, it was reported that Clint Bowyer might renew his contract with Stewart-Haas Racing. * On August 13, 2019, it was reported that Matt DiBenedetto may not return to Leavine Family Racing in 2020, with rumors that the No. 95 Toyota will be vacated for either Christopher Bell or Erik Jones, with the other driver in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20. Two days later, DiBenedetto confirmed that he would not be back with LFR after the end of the 2019 season. * On August 14, 2019, it was announced that David Ragan would be retiring from full-time competition following the 2019 season. * On August 16, 2019, Ryan Preece confirmed he will return to the JTG Daugherty Racing No. 47 Chevrolet for the 2020 season. *On August 17, 2019, Aric Almirola confirmed that he is signed with the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 Ford for the 2020 season. * On August 17, 2019, Daniel Hemric stated he was "iffy" about his status for 2020, with Tyler Reddick likely moving to Cup and if Richard Childress Racing is not able to find sponsorship to run a third car full time, Hemric may lose his ride to Reddick despite having signed a two-year contract with the team last year. On September 17, RCR announced that Hemric would not return to the team following the 2019 season. * On August 19, 2019, it was reported that Corey LaJoie's status with Go Fas Racing in 2020 is uncertain, as Xfinity driver Cole Custer has been mentioned as an option for the No. 32 Ford while the Front Row Motorsports No. 38 car may be an option for LaJoie with David Ragan not returning to that ride next year. If Custer ends up in the No. 32, the team would start a partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing, the team he competes for currently in the Xfinity Series and where his father serves as a team executive. Specifically, it was reported that SHR discussed the possibility of offloading many of their cars to GFR to make room for the Gen-7 car which will debut in 2021. * On August 21, 2019, it was reported that Rick Ware Racing was considering Garrett Smithley to drive the No. 51 full-time (in every race) in 2020. When asked about his future with RWR, Smithley replied: "I’m going to take it one race at a time." On September 24, Smithley was interviewed about those rumors and he stated that if he could do what he wanted, he would try to do something similar to what Ross Chastain did in 2019 and run as many races as possible in all three series (Cup, Xfinity, and Truck). In the same article, RWR team owner Rick Ware said that he anticipated Smithley would run several races with his team in 2020, whether it was full time or part time. * On September 6, 2019, Ty Dillon posted a video to his Instagram in which he denied the rumors that he would be retiring after the 2019 season to move into a management role at his grandfather's team, Richard Childress Racing, which has an alliance with the Germain Racing No. 13 team he drives for. The rumor was that either Tyler Reddick would take his place in the No. 13, moving up from the RCR No. 2 car in the Xfinity Series, or that Reddick would bump Daniel Hemric out of the No. 8 car and Hemric would be in the RCR-aligned No. 13 for Germain. * On September 10, 2019, Paul Menard announced he will retire from full-time racing after the 2019 season and at the same time, Wood Brothers Racing signed Matt DiBenedetto to drive for the No. 21 Ford full-time for the 2020 season. It was previously reported on July 12, 2019 that Menard had re-signed with WBR and was expected to return to the No. 21 team in 2020 with speculation that he had been considering retiring within the next few years after 2020. * On September 13, 2019, it was reported that Chris Buescher and JTG Daugherty Racing were "in progress" in negotiating Buescher's contract renewal. However, on September 25, it was announced that Buescher would be returning to Roush Fenway Racing and would drive the No. 17 Ford, replacing Ricky Stenhouse Jr, who was released from the team despite having signed a contract extension through 2021 on August 1. In terms of who could replace Buescher in the No. 37 for JTGD, team co-owner Brad Daugherty said to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that the team "would like to find (a driver) with some experience (so the team) can continue to grow. We’ve taken good steps with that 37 car this year, really positive steps. We’d like to continue that. We don’t want to go backwards. It’s a tough situation to be in as an owner and a team, but we’re pretty resilient and we’ll figure it out. We’re going to give somebody a heck of an opportunity.” Crew chiefs * On September 24, 2019, it was announced that Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Jason Ratcliff will replace Mike Wheeler as the crew chief of the Leavine Family Racing No. 95 Toyota, to be driven by Christopher Bell in 2020. Both Ratcliff and Bell worked together in the Xfinity Series in the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Wheeler will move to the position of LFR's competition director. * On October 7, 2019, Rodney Childers confirmed that he agreed to a multiyear contract extension with Stewart-Haas Racing as the crew chief of the No. 4 Ford driven by Kevin Harvick. Manufacturers (None have been announced yet.) Sponsorship * On June 13, 2019, Nationwide Insurance announced the end of their five-year sponsorship of Hendrick Motorsports' No. 88 Chevrolet driven by Alex Bowman after the 2019 season. * On June 15, 2019, Richard Childress Racing announced Dow would be back for the 2020 season. * On September 3, 2019, it was reported that Monster Energy is considering increasing its sponsorship of the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 1 Chevrolet in 2020, as it will no longer become the title sponsor of the Cup Series after 2019. As Monster Energy has spent an estimated 5 million on the team in 2019, the deal could give CGR close to 10 million in the next year. * On September 19, 2019, Liberty University reached a two-year agreement to extend the sponsorship of Hendrick Motorsports' No. 24 Chevrolet driven by William Byron. Under the agreement, the No. 24 will carry Liberty University sponsorship in 12 races annually in 2020 and 2021. * On September 20, 2019, Cincinnati Inc. signed a partnership deal with Hendrick Motorsports that runs from 2019 to 2028. The deal makes the tool manufacturer an associate sponsor for all four teams and a primary sponsor of the No. 88 Chevrolet driven by Alex Bowman. *On October 4, 2019, Ally Financial extended its sponsorship of Hendrick Motorsports' No. 48 Chevrolet driven by Jimmie Johnson for three more years through the 2023 season. * On October 10, 2019, Stewart-Haas Racing announced that they signed a contract extension with Smithfield Foods to sponsor the No. 10 Ford driven by Aric Almirola. Rule changes 2020 package *On October 1, 2019, NASCAR released the 2020 rules package. Among the changes to the rules is the reduction of road crew members from 12 to 10. Teams with three or more cars are limited to three roster spots. Wind tunnel testing is limited to 150 hours per team and will only be permitted at four wind tunnel facilities (three in North Carolina and one in Indiana). Each car number is allowed a maximum chassis quantity of 12 units. Teams must compete with long block and short block sealed engines in a minimum of eight races each. Pocono weekend *For the doubleheader weekend at Pocono Raceway, practice and single-car qualifying will take place on Friday, June 26, with drivers using the same cars for both races. The starting order of the Sunday race will be determined by an inversion of the remaining cars on the lead lap at the end of the Saturday race. For example, if the Saturday race ends with 23 cars on the lead lap, the race winner will start in 23rd place while the 23rd place finisher will have pole position on the Sunday race. All drivers who do not finish the Saturday race on the lead lap will start the Sunday race at the back of the field. Schedule NASCAR unveiled the 2020 schedule shortly after the 2019 season began. Changes :Further information: History of NASCAR schedule realignments The 2020 schedule for the NASCAR Cup Series will undergo a series of significant changes. *The Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway will move behind the West Coast swing to March 15, 2020, returning to its pre-2010 date of mid-March. *The Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead–Miami Speedway will no longer serve as the final race of the season ending a tradition that dated back to 2002 and bringing an end to Ford Championship Weekend. The race date will move to March 22, 2020, following the race at Atlanta. This will be Fox Sports' first time carrying the event. *After 21 years of being NASCAR's Fourth of July weekend event (and 60 of 61 years overall), the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway will move to August and become the final race of NASCAR's "regular season". The Brickyard 400, run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, will switch race weekends with Daytona. *The STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway will be run under the lights for the first time on May 9, Mother's Day Weekend. *Kansas Speedway's spring race, the Digital Ally 400 that has been run under the lights on Mother's Day Weekend will move from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon and be held on May 31, 2020, after the Coca-Cola 600. *Both events at Pocono Raceway will be run on consecutive days the weekend of June 27–28. *Dover International Speedway's second date moves to late August, marking the first time the race has not been in NASCAR’s postseason. *The Toyota/Save Mart 350 will move one week earlier than 2018. *The Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway will be held as the first race of the Playoffs as the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will move to the first race of the Round of 12. *The Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway will move from mid-August to mid-September, replacing Charlotte and becoming the final race of the Round of 16. *The Championship Round of the Playoffs will be conducted at ISM Raceway on November 8. This will be the first Phoenix race to close out the season. Due to this and the consolidation of the Pocono doubleheader, the 2020 season will actually end one week earlier than in the past. Usually the season finale is held on third weekend in November. Those dates being anywhere from November 16–22. *The Bank of America Roval 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway will become the final race of the Round of 12, replacing Kansas. *The Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway will be held one week later than 2019, replacing Martinsville and becoming the first race of the Round of 8. *The Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond will move back to Sunday afternoon, similar to 2015–2017 when it was run on a Sunday afternoon. This was done because the two Martinsville Speedway races will be night races in 2020, as both races will start in the day and end at night. *There will be two off weeks between Loudon and Michigan to accommodate the NBC networks' coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics, meaning the off week for the U.S. Open Golf Championships that Fox instituted will be removed. This prevents a conflict that happened at the 2016 Olympics, when NBC moved the Watkins Glen race to their USA Network. NBC's half starts on the weekend of that golf championship. See also * 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series References Category:Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series seasons Category:Scheduled motorsport seasons